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I found this on top of a desert pavement mesa, down about 8 inches. A very low broad tone so I suspect there may be some more gold inside the rock. The visible piece is less than a gram. I detected the hell out of the whole area and not another target to be found. Where is that darn patch I hear so much about?

Big silver will read up in the top right corner in the High Trash and Ground Coin mode. It should read closer to the 12 line in Ferrous Coin. Bryan

My phone crapped out, I'm barely computer literate enough to get the photos out, but I managed. I took a picture of the hole I dug, but the photo doesn't do justice to all the big rocks that I had dragged out behind me, but you get the idea. Rob, yes I have been back to that area and a years ago I found one big 1/2 oz slug, but otherwise a few half grammers, all with the SDC last year. This year nothing. This nugget came from the road in from the canal near the power lines. The so-called nugget patch that Bill told us about where the guy allegedly found 40oz looks like a moon crater now. Everybody and his dog has drywashed that zone.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and Happy Holidays Steve, and to your family. Your knowledge and analysis of issues, detectors, and approaches to the "art" of detecting has been invaluable to us all. You are fair, thorough, and seemingly as honest about the hardware you review as anyone I've known, and your partnering up with the other treasure chest of knowledge - Chris Ralph has benefited us all. Thank you doesn't seem enough for all the energy you have put into this forum, and the serious advocation we enjoy, but thanks anyway. Best for the new year.

Hawkeye, my audio settings on the Zed remain unchanged, however I'm running High Yield Gold Mode, Normal Ground Type and Sensitivity at 12.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS to you Steve, and your family" THANKS for your wealth of information you have provided to all of us on this prospecting forum of yours very much appreciated. CHEERS!

I coined the term 'OOR' about fifteen years ago when Tesoro Electronics came out with the 8X9 Concentric to replace models that had been using a round 8" Concentric. The 8X9 wasn't a pronounced 'elliptical' shape, just kind of an 'Out-of-Round' shape ... 'OOR.' I used this term occasionally in discussions more in Tesoro groups, but it didn't really catch on with others until I started using the Nokta FORS CoRe last January and Makro Racer in February. Both of those 'brands' came on the market very impressively and I used the term 'OOR' to refer to their small 4.7X5.2 Out-Of-Round DD coil. Rather than always type the decimal measured coils size, it was/is much easier to refer to those coils simply as an 'OOR' coil, and I still refer to the Tesoro 8X9 the same way in discussing that brand and coil. Just one of several terms I have coined since the seventies for test scenarios, search techniques, or setting maneuvers, such as 'Quick-Out' and 'EPR' (for Edge-Pass Rejection) to help audibly and visually classify probable ferrous trash. I started using 'EPR' in the '70s because it worked well even with the old TR's I used, and later 'Quick-Out' by '82 when we started getting slow-motion/quick-response VLF Disc. models. 'NBPT' (for my Nail Board Performance Test) which is an actual, in-the-field encounter of four iron nails surrounding a US Indian Head 1¢ coin in a very iron nail infested ghost town where the school used to be. Another I've used an instructed in seminars since 1981 is 'Power Balance' which is a technique to manually Ground Balance for the Discriminate mode (in models that provide that functional ability) so as to have the best ground-handling performance in the Discriminate mode. The result can be less falsing from a too-negative GB, but more importantly, perhaps, is to retain the best responsiveness from some high-conductive targets like a US Silver Dollar or even Half-Dollar, or a small sample of a possible lost or hidden 'poke' of silver coins. For example, I have 5 US silver Walking Liberty Half-Dollars stacked on top of a silver Peace Dollar, and these six coins are together in a plastic container. It represents a possible lost or hidden cloth or leather bag, or glass container, of a few high-conductive coins without any other metal, ferrous or non-ferrous, involved. You might be surprised how many detectors have very poor performance on this sample, and even more surprising how many are basically non-responsive! So now if you or other readers should encounter these terms I have coined and used over the past four-and-a-half decades, you might know the source and meaning, just like I am now up on what 'Zed' means. Thanks! Monte

I've only been to Anchorage twice on flight lay-overs about 48 years ago, in late November, and never had an opportunity to do any detecting. If I were to venture there today, with my modern and very efficient detectors, I might give it a shot (weather permitting), but I can assure you that even hoping for some silver coinage, I would definitely not be anticipating it. As Steve mentioned, the location lacks a sufficient period of activity for there to be much old silver coinage lost, and as one of the early adventurers in this great sport (started in March of '65) I will assure you that there USED TO BE a lot of older coins lost, and with a smile on my face as I pause to reflect back on the "good old early days" of detecting, I know for a fact that many coins were recovered by the adventurous back then. For the last twenty to twenty-five years I only hunt very old parks, or very old and likely untouched out-of the-way fringe areas of parks, to try and find silver and other older keepers. Instead, I have concentrated on renovation sites, vacant lots and private property in urban environments. The other exceptions are tot-lot playgrounds at parks and schools because they are easy and quick to work, and in larger, more populated cities I have averaged 12 gold rings per year, plus other gold and silver jewelry. I also hit sports fields, when in the mood, because some have a better history of gold and silver jewelry loss. The bulk of my detecting is at non-urban locations, such as ghost towns, RR depots and stage stops, old encampments. logging or mining towns, and other places more likely to have .... OLDER COINS and other forms of excitement. Let me also add my personal opinion which also is one Steve mentioned, and that is to rely on a smaller-than-stock search coil (such as the 5" DD presuming you're using the stock 5X10 DD on the F19) because you'll have an improved opportunity to find coins and other non-ferrous targets that have been/still are masked by nearby ferrous junk. Also, be sure to use the least amount of Discrimination you can tolerate to help curtail masking. Also, if you are serious about looking for old silver coins, and in an area where you might search an old mining or logging camp, hunting or fishing lodge/camp, or other out-of-the-way location where folks were far from a bank, keep in mind that it is very possible to luck across a small cache or a 'poke' of hidden coins. Sometimes they were in a small leather coin purse (yea, guys carried those in their pockets) or a small leather bag, so you might want to check your detector, coils, and settings using a similar test scenario. I've used such 'test samples' for a few decades, especially the past dozen or so with all of the newer digital-designed (and 'programmed/preset') detectors. My current 'evaluation sample' is short two silver half dollars I donated to a club for prizes, so it now consists of 5-Walking Liberty Half-Dollars stacked on top of a 1922 Peace Dollar. I have used this to see how many makes and models 'pass' or 'flunk' the detection ability test. I've thinned out quite a few detectors the past two years that I have evaluated. This is comparable to a small 'poke' of silver coins that could have been lost or hidden. and I can't tell you how many modern detectors struggle to give a decent response (audio as well as a lock-on TID) to this test scenario. That's why I like to have a small but functional set of detectors in my carry arsenal that complement each other. It's also a great example of why I do not rely on only a visual display or audio response from a direct-sweep of an encountered target in such sites. Today, my four primary-use detectors are a Nokta FORS CoRe and FORS Gold +, and a Tesoro Bandido II µMAX and Silver Sabre µMAX, each equipped with the main-use search coil I like on them, but I do carry accessory coils for each of my FORS units. Anyway, I am sure Steve left a few silvers hidden here or there and I wish you the best of success in your searches ... as long as huntable weather holds out. Monte